Swim team travels to Bowdoin

The University of Maine men and women’s swimming and diving teams traveled to Bowdoin College on Friday to participate in the two-day Maine State Meet at Greason Pool. The other teams in attendance included Bates, Colby and Bowdoin.

On the men’s side, the Black Bears finished in third place with a combined team score of 728.5, about 300 points behind Bates’ 1,030 points, which won the meet.

Maine first-year Eric Delmonte led the team, placing first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.09 and first in the 200 breaststroke as well with a time of 2:10.11. Delmonte was followed by his teammates, first-year Ryan Boll and second-year Sean Driscoll, in the 200 breaststroke as the Black Bears held the top three spots in the event.

Delmonte also finished in 10th for the Black Bears in the 500 freestyle.

On the diving side of things, Maine’s Kyle Adams fell to Bowdoin’s Mitch Ryan in both the 1-Meter and 3-Meter events, by scores of 271.75 — 227.30 and 263.15 — 207.5 respectively.

In the men’s 50-yard butterfly it was Maine fourth-year Nick Sundquist finishing just .10 seconds behind Bates third-year Theodore Pender — good for second place in the event.

Sundquist also finished fourth in the 200 Individual Medley, which consists of all four major strokes (Freestyle, Butterfly, Breaststroke and Backstroke).

On the women’s side, the Black Bears dominated the 50 butterfly. Maine finished in the top four spots of the event as second-year Emma Pontius, second-year Juliana McDonald, second-year Emily Borger and first-year Rita Chen finished back-to-back-to-back-to-back. Pontius led with a time of 27.07.

Many of those faces appeared in the 200 freestyle relay, in which the Black Bear team of Borger, McDonald, Chen and third-year Tessa Lindsley came in second.

The Maine women finished in second place, falling to Bates by 103 points.

In the 50 backstroke, every swimmer in the top nine was either from Maine or Bates, as Bates first-year Hannah Johnson edged Maine first-year Megan McGillivray for the victory by .16 seconds.

In the 50 Breaststroke it was Maine and Bates again. Bates second-year Kristy Prelgovisk beat Maine first-year Sabrine Nuttall by .25 seconds with a time of 30.40.

Both the men and women’s teams from Bates remain undefeated on the season with their victories in Brunswick. According to the Bangor Daily News, in the most recent College Swim Coaches Association poll they were ranked 14th. The Bobcats could continue to rise in the standings after their performance on Friday and Saturday.

Maine now has a month off from competition before they face Bowdoin College on Saturday, Jan. 14 at Stanley M. Wallace Pool in Orono. The match should be entertaining, as the men narrowly lost to Bowdoin at the State Meet and the women narrowly beat them.